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Employees of the Deschutes Brewery are teaming up with Bend's elite Ultra Marathoner, Kami Semick, to raise money for the Starfish Greathearts Foundation. Starfish is a non-profit charity whose mission is to care for children left orphaned by the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. Next month Kami will travel to South Africa to race in the Comrades Marathon on May 30th, a 56 mile running race that travels through the KwaZula Natal region. In this area 40% of the adult population is HIV positive, but over 90% of the children orphaned are NOT HIV positive, creating a generation of children without parents or means of support.

Kami and the Deschutes Brewery staff are raising money for the Vukukhanye program in the town of Chesterville which currently supports 287 children with the goal of increasing its reach to 1350 kids within three years. Please join us in showing your support for Bend athlete Kami Semick and the Starfish Greathearts Foundation by donating at http://www.firstgiving.com/tnf_comrades_starfish. For more information on the Comrades Marathon, arguably the greatest Ultra Marathon in the world, check out www.comrades.com.

In addition, Deschutes Brewery employee Geof Hasegawa will be travelling to South Africa next month in support of his wife, Tonya Littlehales. Tonya, a Boston Marathon and 4 time Ironman triathlon finisher, will be racing at Comrades as well. If you see them down at the Bend Pub, buy them a beer and they will tell you all about Tonya’s training and adventures in SA after the race!